Chapter 2

Gwen was exhausted, it had been a long day for her, there was an explosion of rift activity and she had been stuck in the hub doing paperwork. She had finally been allowed to leave the hub once she completed her paperwork from the last fortnight, why she the second in command of Torchwood had to do paperwork she didn't understand. Her intention had been to go home and have Rhys pamper her for a while and to have a carry out for dinner, she wouldn't be trusting Rhys' cooking again. Arriving home however her plans seemed to fall apart, sat on her sofa was one of the things that she had been attempting to keep away from her husband.

Sat on her sofa, clashing with the decor was Wednesday Addams. Looking at the girl who had already ruined her evening with her presence alone she was relieved to note that she wasn't wearing the tarantula as a hair clip. Her relief was short-lived however when she noticed what was holding the girls plaits in place. The top of each plait was being held together by what looked like a spiders web, the bottom of the plaits were held the same, but they had an extra clasp as well in the form of two medium sized spiders. They reminded her of the hair bands she had as a child, the difference being that she had plastic princesses on her, not real spiders.

Gwen entered the living room, doing her best not to glare at her husband's cousin. Rhys wasn't exactly happy with her at the moment anyway; there was no reason to antagonise him further. She quickly made her way to her husband giving him a quick kiss before enquiring about his day. There was no way that that Gwen was going to allow the little girl to think badly of her, she was the perfect wife. If only Rhys were the perfect husband, she used to think he was, but lately he was rebelling a bit.

She listened for Rhys to finish talking, there was no need for her to actually listen to what he said, it was never anything interesting. As soon as Rhys stopped talking she smiled, fake of course, as she forced out the words "that's nice love." She then turned her attention towards the teenager, muttering about how nice it was to see her again, while she thought about what it could be that the girl was in her home for.

While she didn't particularly like any of her husband's family, the girl Wednesday and her cousin Micah were the two that she really disliked. Micah had stabbed her and kept referring to Jack as her uncle and as Ianto's boyfriend. Little Micah was no doubt being warped by her twisted family, Wednesday on the other hand was almost an adult and must be held accountable for her actions, Gwen was so why shouldn't Wednesday be. The girl did nothing but interfere in her life, she had completely charmed her Owen away from her. Owen, since he had died and could only use one hand, had relied upon her a bit more. Now that Wednesday had fixed his hand Owen's attitude towards her had reverted to what it had been like when she had called off their affair. She wasn't annoyed that her workload had been cut, but Owen was treating her like a leper.

She smiled at Wednesday, although it was more like a grimace. "How are you, Wednesday? What are you doing here?" Gwen asked through gritted teeth, hating that she was having to attempt being polite to this teen.

Wednesday looked at Gwen appraisingly before answering, "I'm well cousin, how are you?"

Gwen stuttered out that she was fine, unsure as to whether or not she wanted to be referred to as a member of the Addams family or not. She noticed out of the corner of her eye that Rhys seemed pleased that Wednesday had accepted her, but she wasn't sure if she was happy about it. They family were totally weird and she wasn't sure that she a normal person should be a part of that; they may try to corrupt her or something.

Gwen tried to sit comfortably, but the young girl opposite her was creeping her out, she was staring at her intently and Gwen didn't know what to make of her. "Gwen," Wednesday began, "I was wondering if you would do me a favour. It turns out that we are leaving for Scotland to visit our cousin on Wednesday, but my pet kitty cat is arriving on Tuesday. He's really well behaved and he's housetrained, I was wondering if you would look after him for me. Rhys says that it is your decision, because you would have to move into the manor to look after him."

Cat sit, that was all the girl wanted her to do, that couldn't be too bad, and she would get to stay in the manor. She supposed it would help her cause to get the manor if she was there; she smiled at the girl before nodding. "We'll watch him. Are you all going?" Gwen asked.

Wednesday nodded, "Yes. We are going to visit Cousin Archienius, it has been a while since we last saw him, he hides himself away with various little projects of his. Cousin Tharmus is coming with us, and Andronenkos has taken off without telling us where he was going."

Gwen smiled internally, it would be perfect, she would be Lady of the manor at home, and at work there would be no Ianto getting in her way or trying to take Jack away from her. It would be great, if only it would last forever, it was then she realised that she had no idea how long they would be away for. "When will you be back?" Gwen asked Wednesday, her mind only half on the question as she thought about the great time she would have at the manor.

"We will be back on Saturday, we're only really going for a few days to catch up with Cousin Archienius, not that he doesn't seem to know everything that is going on with every member of the family anyway." Wednesday answered.

Gwen just nodded, completely lost in the fantasy of herself as Lady of the Manor. She could completely redecorate the place to her tastes, something that she knew the family wouldn't be able to stand, she was much more refined than they were.

"Do you want to come over on Tuesday before we leave so I can introduce you to Kitty Cat or would you prefer to just turn up on Wednesday?" The teenager asked.

Gwen thought about it for a moment, she knew the cats name and that he was a boy, she really didn't need to be introduced to him. "No, it's alright, Rhys and I can just come up to the manor on Wednesday, that way we won't get in the way of your packing." Gwen answered, glad that she had come up with an excuse that meant she wouldn't need to see the family or share a building with them overnight.

Wednesday showed herself out not long after that having sorted out all the necessary details for Kitty Cat's care. She had given Rhys a list of everything that needed to be done to take care of the cat. Gwen had just nodded along, knowing that it didn't matter if she listened; it would be Rhys taking care of the cat anyway. Gwen couldn't wait, she only had two days until the manor and Jack would be hers, as even if she split from Rhys she would keep the manor. After all she could take the manor as part of her divorce settlement couldn't she; the family wouldn't stop her for fear that she would expose their strange ways to the world.